Month: September 2016

Yes, I finally finished The Book Without An Ending (actual working title: Beneath The Water) and, let me tell you, it was a massive relief.

As I write without a plan, there are always several ‘oh, bugger, what on earth is going to happen next?’ moments, but once I get half-way or two-thirds in, I usually have a clear idea of where it’s heading. The details of this can change, but there is a general, comforting gist. Not this time.

After typing ‘The End’ (hooray!), I took the week off from writing, but kept having those annoying post-finishing thoughts about things I could have added/made better. Urgh.

Still. It’s away on submission, so there is nothing more I can do right now – except obsessively check my email for news, of course.

So, I have been catching up on email and admin/accounts and, more importantly, Reading For Fun. Such a joy after being on deadline.

I loved Anne Marie Casey’s smart and engaging The Real Liddy James, and am halfway through Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. I haven’t read any of Kelly Link’s stories before and they are extraordinary. Next, I’m going to dive into Maggie O’Farrell’s This Must Be The Place which I wanted to read the moment it came out. I am a huge fan, but I forced myself to wait so that I could give it my full attention.

In other news, my eldest turns sixteen next week. Sixteen! I am always wobbly and emotional before my children’s birthdays, but this does feel quite significant. She is talking about university and the next stage of her life and it is really beginning to hit me that she will, one day soon, leave home. Gah.

To celebrate the Strange And Terrible Linear Passage Of Time (or, ‘birthday’, if you prefer), we had a family trip to Comic Con in Glasgow. My daughter and I did our first ever cosplay as a mother-and-daughter demon hunting team and we met the fantastically talented (and lovely) Hillywood sisters.

We also saw Jenny Colgan speaking on a panel about writing and publishing Science Fiction, stocked up on cuddly Totoro toys (you can never have too many), and generally had a blast.

If you have never been to a con and like the idea of being surrounded by lots of folk being unabashedly enthusiastic about the stories/fictional worlds they love, I definitely recommend it. And as a writer it was an inspiring and energising reminder of the power of story.

I also have a limited number of review copies available. If you are interested in one of those, send me an email.

In other news, I am very close to finishing my current WIP. I got very stuck with this story earlier in the year and couldn’t work out how it ended, which was, frankly, terrifying.

However, I have been working through the edits from my agent and I had a breakthrough. I now have an ending (pro tip – books need endings!) and lots of ideas for improving the rest of the book. Thank goodness! I was seriously worried for a while there…

The cover art for the ebook and paperback editions of The Language of Spells belongs to the publisher, so I needed to make something new for the audio book.

My wonderful designer linked the audio cover with the original by adding the curling teal vines around the edges of the image, but overall we went with a bolder, darker look. This cover is only ever likely to be seen as a thumbnail on the iTunes or Audible stores, so I wanted it to stand out. I really hope you like it !

I just finished listening to the audio files of the finished book and the narrator, Stevie Zimmerman, has done a wonderful job. It will hopefully be out by the end of the month, but I will keep you posted.

If you like audio books and are interested in receiving an advance copy (in exchange for an honest review posted on your blog, Audible, iTunes or Amazon), please sign up to my newsletter below, as I will be offering some to my subscribers (or email me!).